Casino opponents confident question will be on ballot

The group behind a push to repeal casino gambling in the Bay State plans to hand in 26,000 signatures supporting their ballot initiative Wednesday.

“It was exciting to watch members of our community, Taunton, East Taunton, Berkley, Lakeville, Middleboro, Carver, all come together and get involved in collecting signatures from the region,” said Michelle Littlefield, formerly co-chairwoman of Preserve Taunton’s Future, a ballot action committee opposed to a Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe proposal to build a casino in East Taunton.

Repeal organizers say they are confident they will clear the final signature threshold to earn a spot on the November ballot, if the state’s highest court doesn’t block the petition.

Preserve Taunton’s Future remained “informally intact” after the city overwhelmingly approved the local casino referendum, but Littlefield, a private investigator and East Taunton resident, has linked up with the grassroots effort behind the statewide repeal effort.

“We went to town meetings, public hearings, and local businesses and collected signatures from every town,” she said. “To know we were a part of a statewide coalition of oppositional groups who collected more than 25,000 raw signatures … is amazing. We only needed 11,000 statewide, and we more than doubled that.”

The collected signatures so far are more than double the required 11,485 new certified signatures. The newest list of names “features all new signers from the more than 90,000 signatures previously collected and filed,” according to a press release from referendum supporters.

Attorney General Martha Coakley, a gubernatorial candidate, ruled the repeal question was ineligible for the ballot. That decision has been challenged.

The state’s Supreme Judicial Court is expected to rule in July whether Coakley’s decision should stand.

While signers of the petition have indicated their support of the people’s right to vote on the issue, most local legislators have not backed the effort.

State Rep. Shaunna O’Connell, R-Taunton, said she remains loyal to the city’s own referendum results over the current statewide push for repeal.

“In Massachusetts people have the right to petition for a ballot question,” O’Connell said. “I support that process. Taunton has voted overwhelmingly in favor of a casino and I remain committed to supporting that vote.”

State Sen. Marc R. Pacheco, D-Taunton, warned taxpayers may take a big hit if the repeal effort is successful.

“I obviously am not supportive of the effort to repeal the destination resort casino legislation that was passed in Massachusetts,” Pacheco said. “It will be harmful if the courts should rule that the effort is legal, which has not happened yet … We’ll have to wait and see what the court actually does on that petition.”

Last week, the state Gaming Commission named MGM Springfield the commonwealth’s first official casino operator.

Pacheco noted “a lot of resources” have already been spent on the effort to get casinos approved and opened in the state.

MGM endured a more than two-year process and outlasted four other rival plans before it won the western Massachusetts license on Friday.

Prospective developers may have grounds for litigation if the Bay State repeals gambling legislation before the first casino opens its doors.

“If we could go back and change it before it’s fully implemented, the private sector would be expending resources heading in a specific direction … in this case literally spending millions of dollars to meet the terms and conditions of the statute,” Pacheco said. “The court may also rule that we’ll have to replace those revenues if we’re changing our mind as a state on this initiative.”

If that happens, Pacheco said he expects budgets for many sectors of state government; “in areas like education, public safety, roads and bridges” could be slashed.

“Which was one of the main reasons why we passed the expanded gaming bill in the first place,” Pacheco said. “There will be an impact on the taxpayer because we’ll be cutting back on the services we provide them, or we’ll be looking for other (revenue streams).”

One of Pacheco’s constituents, Littlefield is a firm believer in the repeal effort.

“I knew on Saturday, when we received word that more than 2,000 of the 4,000 delegates at the Democratic Convention had signed the … petition, we will not only get this on the ballot, we will win this in November,” Littlefield said. “Opposition to casinos in the region has grown tremendously.”

Although Taunton voted to welcome a casino, several proposals have failed at the ballot box in other towns.

“Multiple communities have voted no in referendums,” Littlefield said. “More and more communities are faced with the issue and now that citizens have had the opportunity to get educated on the multitude of impacts to the community, and get past the propaganda and referendum vote that was shoved down their throats, they support having the opportunity to vote on the law in November.”

Littlefield said she met many changed minds while out gathering signatures.

“I was amazed by the Taunton residents that supported a casino two years ago, and now eagerly support repealing the law,” she said. “So many have said to me that if they knew then what they know now, they would never have supported a casino in East Taunton, or that they would have voted no.”

City officials have not wavered in their optimism that the Mashpee Wampanoag will be successful in their attempts to build a casino. The tribe still awaits a crucial land into trust decision before they can break ground.

“Sadly for those that still staunchly believe that a casino is coming to Taunton, we are no closer to having a casino in this city than we were June 9, 2012,” Littlefield said. “Although the continued inaction works in our favor, as it creates uncertainty in the region and thus almost guarantees region C will remain casino free. The MGC realizes the ‘disadvantage’ the law created in this region, and is attempting to further extend the application deadline.”

Repeal supporters picked up thousands of signatures at last weekend’s Democratic State Convention.

“Our grassroots supporters statewide have amazed me with their tenacity and drive to meet voters and share our message, always growing our base of support and momentum to repeal this bad casino deal,” said casino repeal chairman John Ribeiro. “Once these legal and organizing hurdles are behind us, we see a clear path to victory because voters are fed up and know we can do better than casinos for Massachusetts.”

Organizers claim about half the delegates attending the convention signed the petition.

“The interest and excitement around this question is tremendous and only growing,” said repeal campaign manager Darek Barcikowski. “The one thing we kept hearing from voters is that this mess keeps getting worse and that the state just doesn’t need the downsides we know will come with casino gambling.”

Activists will gather signatures through the final deadline Wednesday at 5 p.m., before they file the signatures with city and town clerks. The signatures need to be verified and forwarded to Secretary of State William Galvin by July 2.

“There’s still a long, hard, political battle against these deep-pocketed casino giants ahead,” Ribeiro said. “But cynics and critics have doubted us before – at their own peril.”